Writer/Directors: Joel and Ethan Coen
Year: 2001
Cinematographer: Roger Deakins
Another very good film from the Coen Brothers, actually my first time to see this one, meaning that the only two left of theirs that I've not seen are The Ladykillers and Intolerable Cruelty, which by most accounts are their worst pieces.
Billy Bob Thorton's character Ed the barber doesn't do much, he doesn't react much, but the one time he gets a chance to stop being "the barber" a role that he hates, he cooly uses blackmail to try to get ahead... which sets into motion a series of tragic and confusing events, both darkly comic and profound while being absurd at the same time. Its a bit surreal at times, and I loved how I never knew where the next scene was going to take me. It is told like a film noir in the stark black and white high contrast, with first person past tense narration, and tells the tragedy of a man who commits murder almost by accident, as his original crime spins out of control.
The Coen Brothers love doing this to their poor characters, they try to get ahead, to cut the corners by committing a small crime, but it inevitably gets out of hand, snow balling due to their lack of real understanding of all the angles, or inability to control all the variable factors that hold influence over the fate of their "plan". And as a consequence of poor planning, or just plain stupid decisions, the scheming character suffers greatly along with his loved ones. Also, fate is a totally incontrollable force, and good and bad luck variably bring the character ups and downs, usually downs.
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